Graded Survival
by Aaron-Hates-Applesauce
Summary: AU TWD with numerous OC's. Logan Beckett and his older brother are part of a community set up in an old high school. As they struggle to survive in the harsh new world, they face a variety of obstacles which threaten their survival. Can they pull through? Will they be able to stay who they are when things start to change? (Obviously, I don't own any of the characters from TWD)
1. Chapter 1 - The Council Meeting

**Chapter 1**

 _ **The Council Meeting**_

Logan entered the Council Room and was instantly reminded of what it looked like before they'd chosen to stay at the school, back when he was a student and it was the school library. In his minds eye, he saw the plush sofas and the large, square shelving units. He saw the colourful beanbags over by the windows and the rows of shelving holding all of the school library books.

It didn't look like that anymore. Now, the room was more open and bare. The book shelves had been removed; broken down for other purposes or else moved to another room where they could be more useful. The plush sofas had been distributed out to people for comfort in more appropriate areas and the beanbags had long since disappeared, though Logan wasn't entirely sure what had happened to them.

Remembering the library as it once was reminded him of life before the outbreak; of a time when he was a teenager and would come here with his friends to chill out. Thinking of his friends, of people long since forgotten, was a bad idea. He repeatedly told himself that he shouldn't think of them, it hurt too much. Most, if not all, of them were probably dead. Even if they weren't dead, he'd probably never see them again.

Despite telling himself this, Logan can't control his mind as it takes him back to a time when everything was relatively normal. At least, before people were eating each other on the streets. The faces of the people he used to know flashed before his eyes; some of them he liked and was close with, others not so much. But he missed them all just the same. He would give anything to go back to that time.

But that's exactly why he shouldn't think of them. It was not healthy and it certainly wasn't healthy.

Logan was dragged out of his mind suddenly as he took his seat at the Council table. Early on, shortly after they'd arrived and set up a community at the school, he and his brother been voted on to the Council because of their knowledge of the area. There were eight people altogether on the Council; Logan, his brother Calum, Rick Grimes, Andrea Harrison, Hershel Greene, Jim Worth, Daniel Francis and Ellen Morris. The small group was in charge of the school community, representing all of the people and making decisions to better their survival. There were about fifty people living at the school at the moment, though new people arrive occasionally; less now than they used to.

With everyone seated around the table, Logan looked up towards Rick and waited for him to start the meeting. He notices Rick's eyes meet Hershel's and could instantly tell that they had been discussing something in private; most likely the subject of the meeting.

"As many of you may already know, we're running dangerously low on food supplies" Rick said, looking around at each of the Council members in turn. "The harvest isn't due for another two weeks and until then we've got nothing"

Logan noticed Daniel moving closer towards the table, resting his elbows on its surface, "might be a good idea to take a trip into town then, see if we can scavenge anything?" he suggested.

"I've been thinking about it," Rick answered, "but we've pretty much emptied the town already. Whatever is left down is of no use to us"

"Well, surely we have to try?" It was Andrea; she looked at Rick with an expression of annoyance. "We can't just sit here and starve to death. If there's nothing in the town then we head to the next town, and the next!"

"But we don't know if the next town is safe" Rick retorted in a stressed town, his eyes widening slightly in a what Logan considered to be a threatening manner.

"Nowhere is safe these days, Rick" Ellen spoke up in a motherly voice. "Andrea's right. We have to try at least. We have to take risks if we want to survive"

There were murmurs of agreement around, Logan included. He figured that he would definitely be up for a run. Despite the fact that he was thankful of the school's safety, he always liked to get away from it for a few hours when he could.

"Alright," Rick said weakly after a few seconds, defeated, "I'll put a team together and we'll leave this afternoon"

"You don't have to, Rick. I can take a group out" Andrea said warmly.

"No. I need you to stay here and … oversee things. I can handle it ..." Ricks voice trailed off.

As Andrea sank back into her seat with a look of disappointment on her face, Logan's eyes were locked on Rick. He completely understood Rick's feat of going out in to the world; especially after what had happened six months ago. He's lost his wife and son in an attack. It had devastated him and it had taken him a while to recover. He still wasn't himself. But then again, where any of them? They had all changed so much.

"I'm sensing that this isn't all that you've brought us here to talk about, Rick?" Jim, the old but wise drunk, asked from beside Logan making him jump. No one noticed, however. Logan had got pretty good at hiding his fear.

Everyone turned to look at Jim before glancing back towards Rick, wondering what he was going to say.

Rick just stared at Jim with a blank expression for a while before looking over to the left, avoiding everyone else's gaze.

Everyone was silent.

As Logan waited in anticipation, he began to grow worried at what the problem might be. He willed Rick to speak up, to tell them what it was. Why was he stalling?

Finally, he turned back to the table; though his eyes continued to avoid everyone else's.

"I'm worried about the fences around the school. I've noticed a couple of weak spots and I'm not sure that they'll hold if a herd comes through ..."

Everyone was left in complete silence for a moment, mulling over what Rick had just said. Logan found himself imagining a herd coming through, ripping at the fences to get to them. The fences had to hold, the had to! They were the only things standing between the Survivors and the Walkers. That's what the group had started calling them; the dead things. Walkers.

"... We can easily reinforce the fences Rick. It's not a problem" Daniel said cautiously. Logan could sense that he was trying not to anger Rick in any way. That was once of the things about Rick nowadays, he was very unpredictable which made others around him wary.

"I know that," said Rick, not looking at Dean and instead choosing to glare at the window behind Calum's head, "it's just … these are the things that I've seen. What about the weak spots that I haven't seen? The ones that we don't notice?" his voice was growing more and more desperate as he went on.

Logan considered this for a moment. He didn't want to get all philosophical, but he interpreted what Rick was saying as metaphor for their current situation; _that every single one of them had their weaknesses but that we didn't show them to each other_. He thought that this applied to them all; everyone at the school. Especially Rick, after all that he'd been through. Logan found himself looking around the table at all of the others, trying to work out if they were thinking along the same lines as him. The only two people who were showing any kind of acknowledgement of Rick's statement were Hershel and Calum. Hershel was wearing solemn expression, though his eyes were twinkling with empathy. Calum, on the other hand, was eyeing Rick with a strange look upon his face which Logan, knowing his brother, took to be frustration.

"Well, we've survived this long haven't we?" Calum blurted out in a short voice, "as long as we keep alert we'll be fine! Rick, we're safe here"

Rick turned to look at Calum, his eyes unblinking as he scowls slightly. "We're not safe," he said through a clenched jaw, "it's not safe here!" He pulled himself up from his chair almost manically and started pacing the length of the table, "don't you get it?! We're not safe here! We're not safe anywhere! Nowhere is safe anymore! Sure, we're safer in here than we are out there. But we're sure as hell not safe!"

Everyone looked away from Rick as Calum sank back into his chair slightly. Logan knew that his brother could be quite abrupt with his opinions, but he wished that he could be more lenient with Rick. He understood exactly what Rick was saying, and he understood exactly why he was saying it. He began to feel like he should say something, to cover his brothers foolishness, but his mouth felt too dry. He'd never been very good at speaking up in front of others, he was always better at listening to others.

"Rick..." he managed to say, his voice a small croak. Rick turned and looked at him, a tear having escaped his eye. Logan watched as it sank down his face and over his rough cheek. "I know that it's not safe here," he continued, his voice a little more normal, "those weak spots, I've seen them too. I know exactly what you're saying. But we have to stay strong and not let ourselves crumble. It's our job to set an example for the rest of the group, they all look up to us and they don't need to see us panicking. We might not be one hundred percent safe, but we have hope. And hope is a strong things to have. We can do this, Rick" he finished, realising as he did that during his speech he had stood and moved closer to Rick. Feeling eyes on him, he began to feel very small in such a large and empty room.

As he began feeling like he wanted to retreat into himself, someone started clapping. Before he could acknowledge who it was, someone else had started to clap as well. Within seconds, everyone around the table was clapping. They were clapping for him. For Logan.

Rick joined in, clapping as he gave Logan a wide smile before dropping his gaze to the floor. He raised his hand and put it on Logan's shoulder, smiling at him again.

"Thanks, Logan. I really … really needed to hear that. I know we can do this, I just … I just"

"You're a leader, Rick," Logan said, his voice determined from the confidence instilled by his ovation, "that's what you are. And you can't always be expected to be faultless" he told the older man as he rested his hand on his shoulder.

Logan felt good. He felt like he'd done something to help Rick, he felt more confident than he ever had in his life and he felt happy knowing that everyone around the table appreciated what he had said.

Rick dropped his hand from Logan's shoulder and Logan mirrored this with his own hand. The two of them resumed their seats at the table and before long the meeting was ended. Rick explained that he would get a group organised for the run later today. Logan volunteered straight away, and Rick agreed to have him.

"I know some other's who might be interested" Logan told Rick, still revelling in his newly found confidence.

"Perfect" Rick said with a short nod in his direction.

As the other members of the Council began to leave the room, Logan positioned himself by the door and held it open for everyone. Calum was one of the last people to pass him, giving him a wink as he did so. And then it was just Logan and Hershel left in the room. Logan remained by the door, propping it open as Hershel began to hobble over on his crutches. He'd lost his leg quite early on from a Walker bite, Rick had amputated it and saved his life. That was definitely an example of one of the many hard decisions that Rick had had to make. It had certainly paid off.

As Hershel neared Logan, he stopped and stared at him for a moment with those twinkling eyes that he always wore.

"Thank you for what you said to Rick, young man. You're a good lad" he said in a fatherly tone, his lips curving up in a smile as he gave Logan a nod and continued passed him out of the door. Logan watched him as he made his way down the corridor. He'd always liked Hershel. He was sort of like the moral compass of the group; he always knew what to say and he his very presence at the school showed everyone that there was hope. He was bitten by a Walker and was still alive. How many people could say that? Logan really saw Hershel as an inspiration.

However, as Hershel turned a corner and was lost from Logan's vision he thought back to what Rick had said before, about not seeing all of the weak spots. Did Hershel really have as much hope as he made everyone think? Did any of them?


	2. Chapter 2 - Organisation

**Chapter 2**

 _ **Organisation**_

Logan walked down the corridor after Hershel but instead of turning right and heading out into the main courtyard like he had done, he turned left. He was determined to do Rick proud and recruit some members for the run and he had good idea of who he was going to ask.

In his time at the school since the outbreak, Logan had formed a number of friendships with a lot of people; some so strong that he considered them his family. He though that, in a way, all of the people at the school were a family of sorts. Two people who he'd formed a particularly close friendship with were Matt and Ed. They were some of the first people to arrive at the school after the initial group. Matt was twenty-five and Ed was twenty-four, which was one of the reasons why Logan thought they had grown so close. He himself was twenty-four, so they were all of a similar age.

Logan reached the end of the corridor and almost collided with someone as they turned the corner in simultaneously. He stopped abruptly, almost loosing his balance as he stumbled backwards slightly. He managed to steady himself and looked up to see Glenn standing in front of him with a shocked expression on his face. Sighing slightly with relief, Logan noticed that Glenn's fist was clasped tightly around his pistol, though it was still in its holster. This was completely understandable nowadays, surprises did not usually result in anything good and the best reaction was to draw a weapon. The alternative being a potential Walker bite.

"Logan, sorry" Glenn said, his voice strained slightly as he caught his breath. He took his hand off of his pistol and relaxed, leaning against the wall, "is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Logan replied with a smile, "all okay with you?" he asked politely. Glenn was a really nice guy. Logan had only spoke to him a couple of times one-on-one since their first meeting, but he thought that the two of them were quite good friends.

"Yeah, all's good with me. I was just on my way to find Hershel, you haven't seen him have you?" Glenn asked as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his jacket like a teenager.

"He's out in the main courtyard. Council meeting just finished and he went in that direction" Logan explained, happy to be of assistance.

"Cheers, Logan" Glenn said as he moved passed and patted Logan on the shoulder.

"Ooh, Glenn" Logan said suddenly.

Glenn stopped and looked back towards him with a smile, "yeah?"

"There's a run later today, if you're up for it?" Logan asked, deciding that the more people he could recruit for the run the better.

"Definitely. I'll jut speak to Hershel and then I'll head down to the hall" Glenn said, as he started off up the corridor. "Catch you later" he added with a wave.

Logan returned the wave and watched as Glenn disappeared around the corner at the other end of the corridor. He felt like he'd achieved something having recruited Glenn for the run. He wasn't sure why, but he always wanted to do right by Rick and help out as best he could. He'd thought on occasion that it was because Rick was the closest thing that he had to a father. Besides Calum of course. He'd always kind of looked up to Rick in a "dad" sort of way. But since Rick had lost his son, Logan had began to question whether or not he should think of Rick in that way. He didn't want to seem like he was trying to replace Carl or anything. He'd lost his family too, so he sort of knew what Rick was going through … but he hadn't seem his family die …

Remembering that he was supposed to be looking for Matt and Ed, Logan pulled himself away from his thoughts and continued on down the corridor. He had a good idea where the guys might be, so he thought he'd stop off and pick up his gear first. Once the school had gotten safer and more people were starting to arrive, they'd decided that it would be better if guns were kept r emergencies instead of carried around the school. People argued that they'd be safer if they could all carry guns, but there were armed guards on all of the lookout stations around the school and certain members of the group carried weapons. Logan thought that it was pretty safe, but he could also see why others disagreed.

Turning into one of the old classrooms, he crossed the threshold and closed the door silently behind him. This was his room. Well, it was the room that he slept in along with a number of other people. Most of the people in the school slept on mattresses that had been taken from the nearby houses, though certain individuals preferred to sleep on sofas or in vehicles. Logan's mattresses was positioned under the farthest window of the classroom, alongside his brothers. All of their belongings were in that small vicinity; their weapons, clothes and personal belongings. Logan had a couple of books that he he'd now read about a hundred times over and a framed picture of his family. He avoided looking at it as he crossed the room and dropped down beside his gun bag. Just thinking about the picture was enough to bring a tear to his eyes

He blinked them away as he unzipped the bag and looked inside. His weapons were all organised in case he ever needed them in a hurry. All of his knives were in the left-hand compartment and the few firearms that he had accumulated were in the right-hand compartment. Guns weren't very common, but the group were fortunate enough to come across a stash in one of the houses in town. The previous owner had obviously been a collector, albeit illegally. Though Logan wasn't complaining, he was very thankful indeed. Though, the ammo collection was not nearly as good as the weapons stash. On top of this, the group had also managed to raid a nearby armoury that Logan and Calum had known about prior to the outbreak. From there, they were able to stock up on ammunition as well as retrieve some more advanced fire power. Then there were the few weapons that they'd managed to scavenge from overrun army stations nearby. The army had fallen pretty quickly, their attempts at making a stand futile.

Logan grabbed his belt from the centre of the bag and attached it around his waist, buckling it tightly. His favourite weapon was his Walther PP Pistol; a nice weight and easy to manoeuvre. Calum had found it and given it to him early on, just after things had started to go awry. Since the outbreak, Logan had developed into quite a good shot, " _one of the best in the group_ " according to Rick.

As he slipped the pistol into its holster on his belt, he retrieved the first knife that his hand came into contact with; a machete that Andrea had given on him on one of their first runs together. He remembered her finding it after they'd been cornered by Walkers. That machete had saved his life. Andrea had saved his life. That was back when they relatively new to all of this. Now they were experienced killers and Logan wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

He picked up the sheath for the machete and attached it to his belt before zipping up the bag and pulling himself to his feet.

Now all he had to do was find Matt and Ed. He was almost certain that they'd be in the lookout station above the storage bay. That's were they usually were. They always said it was because they were good shots with good eyes, but Logan knew that it was because they liked the peace and quite of it. Out of the two, Matt was the better shot and he was usually the one to handle the rifle if need be and Ed had the better eyes so together they were a pretty good team. That particular look out station looks out over the shool field and into the neighbouring fields, so it's quite a large and open area to cover.

He left the room and walked the length of the corridor, passing through the double doors at the end as he continued sown to what was once the PE department. A shout from behind him caught his attention and he stopped to listen out. It sounded like two women. One of the them was very angry and the other seemed defensive. He decided to carry on his way. Arguing was that uncommon, especially with everyone basically living on top of each other. He can't help but feel guilty as he continued on to his destination, wondering whether or not he should have done something. When the double doors finally close behind him, he can longer hear the women and the guilt started to dissipate.

Logan emerged into the corridor beside the loading bay, previously the sports hall, and was greeted by a vast room full of vehicles, supplies and people. However, the majority of the crates are empty or dwindling. He recognised some of the faces of the people as they moved around. Chris and Jackson were working on one of the jeeps that the group had acquired a short while ago, whilst Lauren was sorting through some of the crates along with Nicole, Jess and Imogen. As he passed by them he caught a snippet of their conversation.

"Peaches? Canned peaches!? Really?" he heard Jess say with a tone of dissaproval.

"They're not that bad, Jess," Lauren answered with a smirk, "anyone found any canned pears? They're my favourite"

"Nope, sorry" Imogen replied sadly as Nicole shook her head. "Pity not everyone's helping" she added, throwing an annoyed face towards the Mini Cooper that was parked about ten feet away from the women.

Logan followed her gaze and noticed Rebecca and Niall standing next to it, locked in a tight embrace and kissing each other passionately.

He averted his eyes quickly and continued on at a faster pace through the doors at the end of the corridor, laughing slightly at the awkwardness of the situation. Even though the the world had basically ended and society had crumbled, people were still people and it was a little amusing.

Sunlight flooded in through the half-closed shutters into the small porch-like room that separated the corridor from the outdoors. Logan ducked under it and was bathed in the heat of the sun as he emerged into the outside. He stood up straight and surveyed the area quickly as his eyes adjusted to the sudden change in lighting. Surveying areas had become second nature now; it was impossible to know what was waiting around every corner.

Aside the shutter stood the ladder that stretched up towards the roof of the storage bay. It was the only way up or down, besides jumping; but that wasn't recommended as it was close to a twenty foot drop. Logan began climbing the ladder, thinking as he did about all the times he'd climbed it before. Whether it be to take over a watch shift or to join Matt and Ed for a talk. He realised every time he was halfway up how much he hated climbing it. He wasn't particularly scared of heights, he just didn't like to think about what he was doing.

Finally, he reached the top and pulled himself up onto the roof. Breathing a sigh of relief, he drew himself to his full height and glanced over towards the lookout station, a hand above his brow to block out the sun. There are two people inside, and as Logan draws closer he realises that it is in fact Matt and Ed.

"Matt? Ed?" he called as he covers the distance between the ladder and the station. Both of them turn at the sound of their name being called and wave in response.

"Logan, how's it going?" Matt asked as Logan reached the station and ducked inside. Matt was sitting on one of the camping chairs that they'd taken from an outdoors store, his rifle propped up against its arm.

"Going good, yeah. How's everything out here?" he asked, his eyes automatically sweeping over the surrounding area.

"It's been quiet, not much going on at all" Ed replied, leaning against one of the posts.

"So, what brings you up here, mate?" Matt asked with mock curiosity. He raised one of his eyebrows comically and waited expectantly for an answer.

"Well, there's a run and I was wondering if you guys were up for it?" Logan asked them with a smirk, his eyes moving between the two of them.

They both looked at each other and smiled before turning back to face Logan.

"Sure we're sup for it!" They said in unison with matching smiles.

"Anything to get out of this place for a couple of hours" Ed added, stretching his arms far above his head.

"Yeah, it's Lauren's turn to keep watch anyway" Matt added as he pulled himself up from his chair and grabbed his rifle.

Both of them already had their weapons so the trio made there way back across the roof and, one by one, climbed down the ladder. Laughing and cracking jokes with each other, they made their way back into the school and down the corridor towards the loading bay. It felt good to laugh, keeping positive was keeping sane and Logan was adamant to remain sane. He was really thankful for Matt and Ed's friendship.

The three of them entered the loading bay and Logan immediately noticed that a small crowd had gathered around the jeep that Chris and Jackson had been working on. As he drew closer, he noticed that they were all looking towards Rick who seemed to be explaining the run to them.

"Logan," Rick interrupted himself when he noticed them approaching, "boys," he added as he nodded to Matt and Ed, "I was just telling these guys what we're looking for on the run … and going over some ground rules" he informed them.

Logan glanced around at the faces of the small group. Glenn was there, along with his fiancée Maggie. Logan had always had a soft spot for Maggie. He thought that she was beautiful and smart and he enjoyed spending time with her. Michonne was also there, along with Daryl, Katana and Crossbow in hand. Next to Daryl stood Cameron, Daniel's brother, and Jane, Ellen's daughter. Her eyes seemed to be red and Logan could tell that she had been crying. He took a guess that it had been her and her mother whom he had heard arguing before.

"Alright everyone, so this is our group. The ten of us will go-" Rick was cut off as someone jogged over from the corridor.

"Sorry I'm late. I'm coming too"

It was Calum. His face was a little red from running, nevertheless he gave Logan a wide smile coupled with a wink as he settled himself between Jane and Ed.

Logan returned the smile before focusing back to Rick. He wasn't at all surprised that Calum had decided to join them and found himself feeling a little safer knowing that his brother would be around. It was just like the old days when they'd been together constantly.

"Okay. The eleven of us will be heading out. First town we come across we'll stop and scavenge. We keep going until we've got enough to last us until the next harvest." Rick told them all, a professional look on his face that reminded Logan of his old school teachers.

Everyone nodded in agreement and that was it. They were ready to go.

Rick clambered into the front of the jeep followed by Michonne. Daryl jumped into the back of it along with Cameron and Jane. Glenn and Maggie walked over towards a nearby pickup truck and clambered inside. Logan made to join them as Ed and Calum leapt into the back of the pickup but stopped when he noticed Matt jogging off in the opposite direction. He watched him with confusion as he approached Lauren before realising that he was asking her to man the lookout. As Matt started back towards them, Logan pulled himself into the front of the pickup and settled himself next to Maggie before closing the door.

They were ready to leave. Logan watched as Rick pulled the jeep away and Glenn followed in the pickup. Chris and Jackson pulled the lifting system to raise the garage door that they'd installed, and we filed out into the open world.


End file.
